During this year’s IPL, 30 year-old Nikhil Chaudhary was travelling with Delhi Capitals as a net bowler, with an outside chance of landing a contract. He took a few days off to visit his family and childhood coach Charanjeet Bhangu in his hometown Ludhiana. Suddenly, he cut his India trip short, with a promise to his coach. “Sir, I have to join an Australian team camp. You’ll soon get some big news.”Chaudhary broke the big news to Bhangu on Thursday morning. He became the first India-born male cricketer in six decades to be named in an Australian international team as the selectors picked him as a leg-spinning allrounder to join the T20I team, currently playing in Bangladesh. Lisa Sthalekar, born in Pune, has already led Australia in women’s cricket.The selection was the latest milestone in an amazing journey for the Delhi-born Chaudhary, who played for Punjab for three years. In 2020, he was visiting his uncle in Queensland when the world went into lockdown due to Covid19. Unable to return, Chaudhary played some club matches in Brisbane as Australia eased restrictions. Soon, his talent got noticed. He hasn’t looked back since.In Jan 2017, Nikhil Chaudhary made his senior men’s T20 debut as a medium-pacer in a Punjab team which had a bowling attack of former India cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Sidharth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma and Gurkeerat Mann. In March that year, on his List A debut, he shared the dressing room with Yuvraj Singh. His phonebook still has the contact of India left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh. But he’s got his international call-up for Australia, with a stamp of permanent residency on his passport.After representing Punjab in 14 ListA matches, Chaudhary was staring at an uncertain future. The Covid lockdown actually turned into a blessing in disguise for him. “In those eight months, Nikhil played some club matches in Brisbane. Soon the people in the system started praising him. He called me and said he was liking the culture because he had spoken with immigrants. He said he wanted to stay back because people who matter were valuing his talent,” his childhood coach Charanjeet Bhangu told TOI .Chaudhary had to change his game inside out to fit in. “Cricketers overseas usually struggle against spin. Foreigners come to my academy to learn to play spin. But Nikhil was always versatile. When he first came to me at the age of 10, we made him bowl off-spin and bat. But there was intense competition for off-spinner’s spot in Punjab. So, when he grew older, he bowled medium-pace in-swingers. But he would also bowl leg-spin in Punjab nets,” said Bhangu.Once Chaudhary decided to stay back in Australia, he got down to doing odd jobs to make ends meet. He chopped veggies in a restaurant, drove cabs and even delivered parcels as he tried to make a mark in cricket in Tasmania.“He was convinced he could do something noteworthy in Australia. He always maintained a good diet but he was more than willing to embrace the food habits of that country, like the source of protein intake. Once the travel restrictions were completely lifted after two years, he came to me and spent two-and-a-half months working on his batting. In India, he was used to playing off the front foot more. Since then, he primarily comes to me to work on his batting,” said the proud coach.Chaudhary’s big break came when Hobart Hurricanes picked him for the Big Bash League in 2023. “Nikhil was so right about the sports culture there. He made it to the BBL in only three years,” the proud coach said. Chaudhary made an immediate impact in the BBL by winning a game with the bat, hitting Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf out of the park. His First-Class debut came last season and he took five wickets on debut against Queensland besides saving a match for Tasmania with the bat.“The panel has been impressed by his BBL form, particularly last season, leading to his addition to the squad,” selector Tony Dodemaide was quoted as saying by cricket. com. au . “He will be in contention to play his first game for Australia when we sit down to pick a team for the opening T20 fixture here next week,” he added.According to cricket. com. au, Australia has had several Indian-origin players feature in international cricket, including Gurinder Sandhu and Tanveer Sangha, but not since the 1960s (when Rex Sellars, a Gujarat-born legspinner, featured in the 1964 Calcutta Test) has an Indian-born man played for the national side.
